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"The right to search for the truth implies also a duty: one must not conceal any part of what one has recognised to be true." Albert Einstein.
"In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot." Czeslaw Milosz

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

SOFA shaping to give a kick in the pants?

While we obsess over VATS VAT, over in Iraq their Parliament is shaping up to vote on the Status Of Forces Agreement. It is SOFA that gives the USA (and our own armed forces) legitimacy to operate in Iraq. The vote has now been postponed ( as at 26 Nov 2008) to Thursday 27th. And even if signed it now looks as if it is subject to confirmation by a national referendum in 2009.

According to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki if Parliament does not ratify the agreement then there is no alternative plan on hold to permit US forces to remain – they (and we) must withdraw from Iraq immediately. Having gone down the negotiations on the SOFA route it is no longer possible for the USA to go to the Security Council for a renewed International Mandate.

This could be interesting as UK troops hold the southern areas that the US forces need to pass through to possible Gulf Coast evacuation points.

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